Middle Orient

BAGHDAD — US leaders are pushing Iraqis hard to resolve the deadlock over a new prime minister and form a unity government. But getting that done will offer no guarantee of a quick end to the country’s violence.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq’s Shiite leaders, divided over their choice for the next prime minister, cancelled a much-awaited parliament session on Sunday as rebel attacks across the country left at least 31 people dead.

CAIRO (Reuters) — Iraq left its seat empty at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Iraq on Wednesday, carrying out its threat to boycott the Arab League event in protest at remarks by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Leaders fail to make progress towards forming unity gov’tBAGHDAD (Reuters) — A car bomb killed at least 26 people outside a Shiite mosque north of Baghdad on Wednesday as Iraqi leaders failed to make progress towards forming a national unity government they hope can avert sectarian civil war.

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s leaders promised an enhanced fight against Kurdish militants Thursday after a week of the worst street clashes in decades, but said the fight would not mean backtracking on democratic reforms that are critical to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

CAIRO (AFP) — A third person has died from bird flu in Egypt, the hardest-hit non-Asian country in the world, as health officials struggled Thursday to enforce preventive measures.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A former senior White House official testified that President George W. Bush authorised the leaking of classified material on Iraq, according to court papers made public on Thursday that immediately ignited a political storm.

MOGADISHU — Somali warlords are destroying Muse Suldan’s dream to be a teacher. The 12-year-old often flees Mogadishu and misses school to escape gunbattles between rival militias. Like a generation of young Somalis, he has never known peace or lived under a formal government, growing up in anarchy after strongman …

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) — Ethnic riots in southeast Turkey in the past week left nine dead in the worst urban violence to hit the region in a decade, reviving memories of the height of a Kurdish rebellion that has claimed more than 37,000

AMMAN — Iraq’s resistance has replaced Abu Mussab Zarqawi as political head of the rebels, confining him to a military role, the son of Osama Ben Laden’s mentor told AFP Sunday in Jordan.